I was inspired to put these flavors together when I remembered one of the best lunches I ever had at the now closed Centurion Restaurant that was located in down town Phoenix AZ. My three course $15.00 lunch included this paprika parmesan hummus that went so delicious with carrots. It came with other vegetables but sort of popped with the carrots so I put together similar flavors in a baked vegetarian balls.

A true falafel is fried and made with dried chickpeas so this patty is falafel inspired. I will call it a falafel anyway. This falafel isn’t going to win a prize for crispiest or fluffiest falafel and is more meatball like in texture with flavors are spot on. This is a very easy delicious recipe that anyone can prepare.

Ingredients to make about 19 meatball sized balls that are about 9 servings set oven to 350 degrees

2 carrots shredded

1 15oz. can garbanzo beans low sodium variety rinsed a few times (because they are very close to fresh made and are better than the dried out old ones from my local grocery store)

1/2 large sweet onion grated

3 garlic cloves grated

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 beaten large eggs

1 Tablespoon tahini

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (fruity mildly spicy red pepper)

1/2 cup chickpea flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon honey

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

fresh ground sea salt for finishing

fresh ground black pepper for finishing

nonstick spray for your baking sheet

Directions

Using a blender blend up your eggs and slowly add your chickpeas. Once blended then add onions, garlic, tahini, honey and dry spices. Scrape out mixture to a bowl. Hand mix in your carrots, now hand mix in your flours and baking powder. Mix in your parsley. Spray your baking sheet with nonstick spray and shape the mixture into meatball size balls somewhere around a walnut size. Bake about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.